Vice Presidents- Who They are, What They Do, and Why You Should Care?

Vice PresidentsVice Presidents WHO they are, WHAT they do,&WHYshould you care?

We’re all familiar with POTUS and the responsibilities that come with the position — but what about their second-in-command? Story by Ihsaan Fanusie Design by Isabel Solorzano Graphics by Cassandra Bradley

Who will lead our country and wield the power of one of the most consequential positions in the world? This question is left to the American people to decide every four years.

The presidential election is widely considered to be one of the most important in our country. Yet when we go to vote, we see each ticket on the ballot bearing two names, not one. The major party candidates for the presidency are Donald Trump and Joe Biden; next to their names are vice presidential candidates Mike Pence (R) and Kamala Harris (D), respectively.

While the vice presidential candidates do get their own televised debate every election year, and most Americans know who they are, the majority of the American public may not be as familiar with their policies, platforms, and role in office.

WHO’S RUNNING?

Vice President Mike Pence, the incumbent, has been notable for largely staying out of the spotlight as vice president; Dick Poleman of The Atlantic published a piece in 2018 described and Pence as possessing a “talent for being absent.”

Pence is generally described as a traditional conservative and served as the Governor of Indiana prior to being selected by President Donald Trump as a running mate. Notably, as vice president, Pence cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and led the presidential delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics. Kamala Harris, the Democratic VP nominee, ran for president initially but suspended her campaign in December of 2019. Joe Biden selected her as his running mate on Aug. 11. Having formerly served as the Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017, she is currently a Senator representing California, and has been since 2017. She will, presumably, resign to accept the position of vice president should Biden win the election.

ROLE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

The Vice President of the United States is first in line for the presidency should the president die or become unfit to serve. The 25th amendment lays out these provisions.

Now, more than ever, the public seems to be taking this particular duty of the vice presidential officeholder into consideration when casting their ballots. President Trump is 74 years old, and former Vice President Joe Biden will turn 78 years old three weeks after the election. If either candidate was to win and subsequently serve a four-year term, they would leave office as the oldest president in American history, and this has become a point of conversation for American voters, because it also means that it is entirely possible that the president, whoever wins, could pass away while still in office.

Even though they will have access to the best medical care that the country has to offer, the presidency is a stressful job, and the average life expectancy in the US is just over 78 years. If a death in office happens, the vice president would finish out the term as the president of the United States.

ROLE IN THE SENATE

Barring an unlikely tragedy, however, the vice president who is on the winning ticket will have four years as the second-incommand of the executive branch. Yet this position holds little institutional power in our government.

David Hill, Ph.D., is a professor of political science here at Stetson. According to Professor Hill, the biggest explicit power the vice president holds is the tie breaking vote in the Senate.

The vice president can cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate if the vote is split equally. Historically, this power has been used to pass through or reject contentious bills or confirm or deny presidential nominees for various positions.

“Vice presidents have made important votes in the United States Senate, breaking those ties,” Hill said. “It’s not a rare thing.”

If a bill in the senate has 50 votes in favor and 50 votes in opposition, the vice president has the power to decide whether or not that bill moves on in the legislative process.

INFORMAL POWERS

Beyond the few institutional responsibilities that the VP is given through the constitution, there are informal powers that have evolved into the position as well.

Politically, a presidential candidate can select a particular person as their running mate in order to appeal to certain parts of their party.

“A choice can shore up support within a particular wing of the party,” Hill said, though he cautioned that these differences are marginal in actual effect on an election outcome.

He noted that the choice of Harris as Biden’s VP may be intended to help improve the latter’s standing in the African American community.

“Choosing a woman of color was a really smart and obvious choice,” Hill said. “It’s not going to pick up any new votes for Biden, but it’s certainly shoring up that wing of the party… What I think he’s doing with the choice of Harris is making sure that he signals to these important constituents of the Democratic Party, ‘I hear you, and you’re going to have a voice in my administration.’”

President Trump’s selection of Mike Pence fulfilled a similar function. “He basically did the same thing with Pence, in that Trump certainly was not a social conservative, he didn’t really run as a social conservative, he had no history of being a social conservative, and so he chooses Mike Pence to shore up that wing of the party,” Hill said.

LIKE BATMAN AND ROBIN

One recent trend in the vice presidency is the development of the VP’s role as a political partner of the president.

Since Al Gore’s tenure as vice president with Bill Clinton from 1993-2001, the VP has been tasked with handling some of the president’s policy agendas.

“The vice president has become more of a partner in governance with the president,” Hill said. “Now, the vice president has very little institutional power to do anything other than break those ties, but the president can put them in charge of particular policy areas and give them the responsibility to lead some sort of policy response.”

Dick Cheney, for example, had some degree of power over the U.S. handling of the war against terror during George W. Bush’s presidency.

The aforementioned Gore helped carry out economic policy initiatives related to the spread of information technology in the 1990s.

We saw this trend continue into the Obama and Trump presidencies. Joe Biden was put in charge of economic recovery initiatives during his vice presidential term, whereas Mike Pence has been put in charge recently of the coronavirus response task force.

SO, WHY DOES THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MATTER?

Despite the significantly lower political impact of VPs, contrasted with presidents, there are still notable considerations to be made regarding the position. The vice president has a higher than usual chance of becoming president this election, and there are a variety of informal and formal responsibilities for the position.

Hill noted that while the vice presidents are considerably less powerful than their presidential counterparts, voters would do well to at least keep in mind that the position is more than ceremonial.

“Should voters [consider the vice president]? Probably. But do they? No.”